UgandaUganda takes its name from the
Buganda kingdom, which encompasses a
large portion of the south of the country, including the capital
KampalaKampala . The people of
UgandaUganda were hunter-gatherers until 1,700 to
2,300 years ago, when Bantu -speaking populations migrated to the
southern parts of the country.

Beginning in 1894, the area was ruled as a protectorate by the
British, who established administrative law across the territory.
UgandaUganda gained independence from Britain on 9 October 1962. The period
since then has been marked by intermittent conflicts, including a
lengthy civil war against the Lord\'s Resistance Army in the Northern
Region , which has caused hundreds of thousands of casualties.

The official languages are English and Swahili , although "any other
language may be used as a medium of instruction in schools or other
educational institutions or for legislative, administrative or
judicial purposes as may be prescribed by law."
Luganda , a central
language, is widely spoken across the country, and several other
languages are also spoken including
Runyoro ,
Runyankole ,
Rukiga ,
and Luo .

The ancestors of the Ugandans were hunter-gatherers until
1,700–2,300 years ago. Bantu -speaking populations, who were
probably from central Africa, migrated to the southern parts of the
country.

According to oral tradition , the
Empire of Kitara covered an
important part of the great lakes area , from the northern lakes
Albert and Kyoga to the southern lakes Victoria and Tanganyika .
Bunyoro-Kitara is claimed as the antecedent of the
Buganda , Toro ,
Ankole , and
Busoga kingdoms. Flag of the
Uganda Protectorate

Some Luo invaded the area of
Bunyoro and assimilated with the Bantu
there, establishing the Babiito dynasty of the current Omukama (ruler)
of Bunyoro-Kitara.

ArabArab traders moved inland from the Indian Ocean coast of East Africa
in the 1830s. They were followed in the 1860s by British explorers
searching for the source of the
NileNile . :151 British Anglican
missionaries arrived in the kingdom of
Buganda in 1877 (a situation
which gave rise to the death of the
Uganda Martyrs ) and were followed
by French
CatholicCatholic missionaries in 1879. The British government
chartered the Imperial British East
AfricaAfrica Company (IBEAC) to
negotiate trade agreements in the region beginning in 1888. :51–58
From 1886, there were a series of religious wars in Buganda, initially
between
MuslimsMuslims and Christians and then, from 1890, between ba-Ingleza
Protestants and ba-Fransa Catholics. Because of civil unrest and
financial burdens, IBEAC claimed that it was unable to "maintain their
occupation" in the region. British commercial interests were ardent
to protect the trade route of the Nile, which prompted the British
government to annex
Buganda and adjoining territories to create the
Uganda Protectorate in 1894. :3–4

In the 1890s, 32,000 labourers from British
IndiaIndia were recruited to
East
AfricaAfrica under indentured labour contracts to construct the Uganda
Railway . Most of the surviving Indians returned home, but 6,724
decided to remain in East
AfricaAfrica after the line's completion.
Subsequently, some became traders and took control of cotton ginning
and sartorial retail.

From 1900 to 1920, a sleeping sickness epidemic in the southern part
of Uganda, along the north shores of Lake Victoria, killed more than
250,000 people.

The first post-independence election, held in 1962, was won by an
alliance between the
UgandaUganda People\'s Congress (UPC) and Kabaka Yekka
(KY). UPC and KY formed the first post-independence government with
Milton Obote as executive prime minister, with the
Buganda Kabaka
(King) Edward Muteesa II holding the largely ceremonial position of
president. Construction of the Owen Falls Dam in Jinja .
The
UgandaUganda Printers Building on
KampalaKampala Road, Kampala,
UgandaUganda

THE BUGANDA CRISIS 1962–1966

Uganda’s immediate post-independence years were dominated by the
relationship between the central government and the largest regional
kingdom –
Buganda . Indeed, an understanding of this relationship
is critical to understanding the current political and social elements
that have forged and continue to shape Uganda.

From the moment the British created the
UgandaUganda protectorate, the
issue of how to manage the largest monarchy within the framework of a
unitary state had always been a problem. Colonial governors had failed
to come up with a formula that worked. This was further complicated by
Buganda’s nonchalant attitude to issue.
Buganda never sought
independence, but rather appeared to be comfortable with a loose
arrangement that guaranteed them privileges above the other subjects
in the protectorate – or a special status when the British left.
This is best demonstrated by the battle between the British Governor
Cohen and the Kabaka and his subjects prior to Independence.

Within
Buganda there were divisions – between those who wanted the
Kabaka to remain a dominant monarch, and those who wanted to join with
the rest of
UgandaUganda to create a modern secular state. The split
resulted in the creation of two dominant
Buganda based parties – the
Kabaka YekkaKabaka Yekka (Kabaka Only) KY, and the Democratic Party (DP) that had
roots in the
CatholicCatholic Church. The bitterness between these two parties
was extremely intense especially as the first elections for the
post-Colonial parliament approached. The Kabaka particularly disliked
the DP leader,
Benedicto Kiwanuka .

Outside Buganda, a quiet spoken politician,
Milton Obote , from
Northern
UgandaUganda had forged an alliance of non-
Buganda politicians to
form the
UgandaUganda People’s Congress (UPC). The UPC at its heart was
dominated by politicians who wanted to rectify what they saw as the
regional inequality that favoured Buganda's special status. This drew
in substantial support from outside Buganda. The party however
remained a loose alliance of interests but Obote showed great skill at
negotiating them into a common ground based on a federal formula.

At Independence, the
Buganda question remained unresolved.
UgandaUganda was
one of the few colonial territories that achieved independence without
a dominant political party with a clear majority in parliament. In the
pre-Independence elections, the UPC ran no candidates in
Buganda and
won 37 of the 61 directly elected seats (outside Buganda). The DP won
24 seats outside Buganda. The "special status" granted to Buganda
meant that the 21
Buganda seats were elected by proportional
representation reflecting the elections to the
Buganda parliament –
the Lukikko. KY won a resounding victory over DP, winning all 21
seats.

KY held the balance of power, and the bitterness with the DP in
Buganda walked the Kabaka to seek an alliance with UPC, further
enhanced by Obote’s promise to keep Buganda’s "special status" and
grant the Kabaka the ceremonial presidential role.

The UPC and KY thus entered a coalition, and were boosted further by
the nine seats allocated by parliament (six to UPC and three to KY).
An additional seat was allocated to the Attorney General which was
given to a
Buganda UPC supporter –
Godfrey Binaisa . The UPC now had
44 of the 92 parliamentary seats as
UgandaUganda celebrated independence,
still short of a majority and dependant on KY to rule. Obote became
Prime minister, and as promised the Kabaka became ceremonial
president.

This arrangement had an almost immediate impact on the opposition DP
– especially among its MPs who after all shared many of the values
that were espoused by the UPC. Just two years after independence in
1964 a trickle of defections from the DP meant that the UPC had
achieved an absolute majority in parliament, and no longer needed the
support of KY. Without any formal announcement, the coalition
arrangement ended, although the Kabaka remained president.

The UPC reached a high at the end of 1964 when the leader of the DP
in parliament, Basil Bataringaya crossed the parliamentary floor with
five other MPs, leaving DP with only nine seats. The DP MPs were not
particularly happy that their leader Benedicto Kiwanuka's hostility
towards the Kabaka that was hindering their chances of compromise with
KY. The trickle of defections turned into a flood when 10 KY members
crossed the floor when they realised the formal coalition with the UPC
was no longer viable. Obote’s charismatic speeches across the
country were sweeping all before him, and the UPC was winning almost
every local election held and increasing its control over all district
councils and legislatures outside Buganda. The response from the
Kabaka was mute – probably content in his ceremonial role and
symbolism in his part of the country. However, there were also major
divisions within his palace that made it difficult for him to act
effectively against Obote. By the time
UgandaUganda had become independent,
Buganda "was a divided house with contending social and political
forces" There were however problems brewing inside the UPC. As its
ranks swelled, the ethnic, religious, regional and personal interests
began to shake the party. The party’s apparent strength was eroded
in a complex sequence of factional conflicts in its central and
regional structures. And by 1966, the UPC was tearing itself apart.
The conflicts were further intensified by the newcomers who had
crossed the parliamentary floor from DP and KY.

The UPC delegates arrived in
Gulu in 1964 for their delegates
conference. Here was the first demonstration as to how Obote was
losing control of his party. The battle over the Secretary General of
the party was a bitter contest between the new moderate’s candidate
– Grace Ibingira and the radical John Kakonge. Ibingira subsequently
became the symbol of the opposition to Obote within the UPC. This is
an important factor when looking at the subsequent events that led to
the crisis between
Buganda and the Central government. For those
outside the UPC (including KY supporters), this was a sign that Obote
was vulnerable. Keen observers realised the UPC was not a cohesive
unit.

The collapse of the UPC-KY alliance openly revealed the
dissatisfaction Obote and others had about Buganda’s "special
status". In 1964 The government responded to demands from some parts
of the vast
Buganda Kingdom that they were not the Kabaka’s
subjects. Prior to colonial rule
Buganda had been rivalled by the
neighbouring
Bunyoro kingdom.
Buganda had conquered parts of Bunyoro
and the British colonialists had formalised this in the Buganda
Agreements. Known as the "lost counties", the people in these areas
wished to revert to being part of Bunyoro. Obote decided to allow a
referendum, which angered the Kabaka and most of the rest of Buganda.
The residents of the counties voted to return to
Bunyoro despite the
Kabaka's attempts to influence the vote. Having lost the referendum,
KY opposed the bill to pass the counties to Bunyoro, thus ending the
alliance with the UPC.

The tribal nature of Ugandan politics was also manifesting itself in
government. The UPC which had previously been a national party began
to break along tribal lines when Ibingira challenged Obote in the UPC.
The "North/South" ethnic divide that had been evident in economic and
social spheres now entrenched itself in politics. Obote surrounded
himself with mainly northern politicians – A. A. Neykon, Felix
Onama, Alex Ojera – while Ibingira’s supporters who were
subsequently arrested and jailed with him, were mainly from the South
– George Magezi, B. Kirya, Matthias Ngobi. In time, the two factions
acquired ethnic labels – "Bantu" (the mainly Southern Ibingira
faction) and "Nilotic" (the mainly Northern Obote faction). The
perception that the government was at war with the Bantu was further
enhanced when Obote arrested and imprisoned the mainly Bantu ministers
who backed Ibingira.

These labels brought into the mix two very powerful influences. First
Buganda – the people of
Buganda are Bantu and therefore naturally
aligned to the Ibingira faction. The Ibingira faction further advanced
this alliance by accusing Obote of wanting to overthrow the Kabaka.
They were now aligned to opposing Obote. Second – the security
forces – the British colonialists had recruited the army and police
almost exclusively from Northern
UgandaUganda due to their perceived
suitability for these roles. At independence, the army and police was
dominated by northern tribes – mainly Nilotic. They would now feel
more affiliated to Obote, and he took full advantage of this to
consolidate his power. In April 1966, Obote passed out eight hundred
new army recruits at Moroto , of whom seventy percent came from the
Northern Region.

It is true that at the time there was a tendency to see central
government and security forces as dominated by "northerners" –
particularly the Acholi who through the UPC had significant access to
government positions at national level. In northern
UgandaUganda there were
also varied degrees of anti-
Buganda feelings, particularly over the
kingdom's "special status" before and after independence, and all the
economic and social benefits that came with this status. "Obote
brought significant numbers of northerners into the central state,
both through the civil service and military, and created a patronage
machine in Northern Uganda". However, both "Bantu" and "Nilotic"
labels represent significant ambiguities. The Bantu category for
example includes both
Buganda and
Bunyoro – historically bitter
rivals. The Nilotic label includes the Lugbara, Acholi and Langi who
have bitter rivalries that were to define Uganda’s military politics
later. Despite these ambiguities, these events unwittingly brought to
fore the northerner/southerner political divide which to some extent
still influences Ugandan politics.

The UPC fragmentation continued as opponents sensed Obote’s
vulnerability. At local level where the UPC dominated most councils
discontent began to challenge incumbent council leaders. Even in
Obote’s home district, attempts were made to oust the head of the
local district council in 1966. A more worrying fact for the UPC was
that the next national elections loomed in 1967 – and without the
support of KY (who were now likely to back the DP), and the growing
factionalism in the UPC, there was the real possibility that the UPC
would be out of power in months.

Obote went after KY with a new act of parliament in early 1966 that
blocked any attempt by KY to expand outside Buganda. KY appeared to
respond in parliament through one of their few remaining MPs, the
terminally ill Daudi Ochieng. Ochieng was an irony – although from
Northern Uganda, he had risen high in the ranks of KY and become a
close confidant to the Kabaka who had gifted him with large land
titles in Buganda. In Obote’s absence from Parliament, Ochieng laid
bare the illegal plundering of ivory and gold from the Congo that had
been orchestrated by Obote’s army chief of staff, Colonel
Idi AminIdi Amin .
He further alleged that Obote, Onama and Neykon had all benefited from
the scheme. Parliament overwhelmingly voted in favour of a motion to
censure Amin and investigate Obote's involvement. This shook the
government and raised tensions in the country.

KY further demonstrated its ability to challenge Obote from within
his party at the UPC
Buganda conference where
Godfrey Binaisa (the
Attorney General) was ousted by a faction believed to have the backing
of KY, Ibingira and other anti-Obote elements in Buganda. Obote's
response was to arrest Ibingira and other ministers at a cabinet
meeting and to assume special powers in February 1966. In March 1966,
Obote also announced that the offices of President and Vice President
would cease to exist – effectively dismissing the Kabaka. Obote also
gave Amin more power – giving him the Army Commander position over
the previous holder (Opolot) who had relations to
Buganda through
marriage (possibly believing Opolot would be reluctant to take
military action against the Kabaka if it came to that). Obote
abolished the constitution and effectively suspended elections due in
a few months. Obote went on television and radio to accuse the Kabaka
of various offences including requesting foreign troops which appears
to have been explored by the Kabaka following the rumours of Amin
plotting a coup. Obote further dismantled the authority of the Kabaka
by announcing among other measures:

* The abolition of independent public service commissions for
federal units. This removed the Kabaka’s authority to appoint civil
servants in Buganda.
* The abolition of the
Buganda High Court – removing any judicial
authority the Kabaka had.
* The bringing of
Buganda financial management under further central
control.
* Abolition of lands for
Buganda chiefs. Land is one the key sources
of Kabaka’s power over his subjects.

The lines were now drawn for a show down between
Buganda and the
Central government. Historians may argue about whether this could have
been avoided through compromise. This was unlikely as Obote now felt
emboldened and saw the Kabaka as weak. Indeed, by accepting the
presidency four years earlier and siding with the UPC, the Kabaka had
divided his people and taken the side of one against the other. Within
Buganda’s political institutions, rivalries driven by religion and
personal ambition made the institutions ineffective and unable to
respond to the central government moves. The Kabaka was often regarded
as aloof and unresponsive to advice from the younger Buganda
politicians who better understood the new post-Independence politics,
unlike the traditionalists who were ambivalent to what was going on as
long as their traditional benefits were maintained. The Kabaka
favoured the neo-traditionalists.

In May 1966, the Kabaka made his move. He asked for foreign help and
the
Buganda parliament demanded that the
UgandaUganda government leave
Buganda (including the capital, Kampala). In response Obote ordered
Idi AminIdi Amin to attack the Kabaka’s palace. The battle for the
Kabaka’s palace was fierce – the Kabaka’s guards putting up more
resistance that had been expected. The British trained Captain – the
Kabaka with about 120 armed men kept
Idi AminIdi Amin at bay for twelve hours.
It is estimated that up to 2,000 people died in the battle which
ended when the army called in heavier guns and overran the palace. The
anticipated countryside uprising in
Buganda did not materialise and a
few hours later a beaming Obote met the press to relish his victory.
The Kabaka escaped over the palace walls and was scuttled off into
exile in London by supporters. He died there three years later.

1966–1971 (BEFORE THE COUP)

In 1966, following a power struggle between the Obote-led government
and King Muteesa, Obote suspended the constitution and removed the
ceremonial president and vice-president. In 1967, a new constitution
proclaimed
UgandaUganda a republic and abolished the traditional kingdoms.
Obote was declared the president.

1971 (AFTER THE COUP) –1979 (END OF AMIN REGIME)

After a military coup on 25 January 1971 , Obote was deposed from
power and General
Idi AminIdi Amin seized control of the country. Amin ruled
UgandaUganda as dictator with the support of the military for the next eight
years. He carried out mass killings within the country to maintain
his rule. An estimated 80,000–500,000 Ugandans lost their lives
during his regime. Aside from his brutalities, he forcibly removed
the entrepreneurial Indian minority from Uganda. In June 1976,
Palestinian terrorists hijacked an
Air FranceAir France flight and forced it to
land at
EntebbeEntebbe airport . One hundred of the 250 passengers originally
on board were held hostage until an Israeli commando raid rescued them
ten days later. Amin's reign was ended after the Uganda-
TanzaniaTanzania War
in 1979, in which Tanzanian forces aided by Ugandan exiles invaded
Uganda.

Museveni has been president since his forces toppled the previous
regime in January 1986.

Political parties in
UgandaUganda were restricted in their activities
beginning that year, in a measure ostensibly designed to reduce
sectarian violence. In the non-party "Movement" system instituted by
Museveni, political parties continued to exist, but they could operate
only a headquarters office. They could not open branches, hold
rallies, or field candidates directly (although electoral candidates
could belong to political parties). A constitutional referendum
cancelled this nineteen-year ban on multi-party politics in July 2005.

In the mid-to-late 1990s, Museveni was lauded by western countries as
part of a new generation of African leaders .

His presidency has been marred, however, by invading and occupying
the Democratic
RepublicRepublic of the Congo during the
Second Congo War ,
resulting in an estimated 5.4 million deaths since 1998, and by
participating in other conflicts in the Great Lakes region of
AfricaAfrica .
He has struggled for years in the civil war against the Lord's
Resistance Army, which has been guilty of numerous crimes against
humanity, including child slavery , the
Atiak massacre , and other
mass murders. Conflict in northern
UgandaUganda has killed thousands and
displaced millions.

Parliament abolished presidential term limits in 2005, allegedly
because Museveni used public funds to pay US$2,000 to each member of
parliament who supported the measure. Presidential elections were
held in February 2006. Museveni ran against several candidates, the
most prominent of them being
Kizza Besigye .

On 20 February 2011, the
UgandaUganda Electoral Commission declared the
incumbent president
Yoweri Kaguta Museveni the winning candidate of
the 2011 elections that were held on 18 February 2011. The opposition
however, were not satisfied with the results, condemning them as full
of sham and rigging. According to the official results, Museveni won
with 68 percent of the votes. This easily topped his nearest
challenger, Besigye, who had been Museveni's physician and told
reporters that he and his supporters "downrightly snub" the outcome as
well as the unremitting rule of Museveni or any person he may appoint.
Besigye added that the rigged elections would definitely lead to an
illegitimate leadership and that it is up to Ugandans to critically
analyse this. The European Union's Election Observation Mission
reported on improvements and flaws of the Ugandan electoral process:
"The electoral campaign and polling day were conducted in a peaceful
manner However, the electoral process was marred by avoidable
administrative and logistical failures that led to an unacceptable
number of Ugandan citizens being disfranchised."

Since August 2012, hacktivist group Anonymous has threatened Ugandan
officials and hacked official government websites over its anti-gay
bills. Some international donors have threatened to cut financial aid
to the country if anti-gay bills continue.

Indicators of a plan for succession by the president's son, Muhoozi
Kainerugaba, have increased tensions.

This section DOES NOT CITE ANY SOURCES . Please help improve this
section by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material
may be challenged and removed . (June 2015) (Learn how and when to
remove this template message )

The country is located on the
East African Plateau , lying mostly
between latitudes 4°N and 2°S (a small area is north of 4°), and
longitudes 29° and 35°E . It averages about 1,100 metres (3,609 ft)
above sea level, sloping very steadily downwards to the Sudanese Plain
to the north.

LAKES AND RIVERS

This section NEEDS ADDITIONAL CITATIONS FOR VERIFICATION . Please
help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources .
Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2015)
(Learn how and when to remove this template message )

Much of the south of the country is heavily influenced by one of the
world's biggest lakes, Lake Victoria, which contains many islands.
Most important cities are located in the south, near this lake,
including the capital
KampalaKampala and the nearby city of Entebbe.

Lake Kyoga is in the centre of the country and is surrounded by
extensive marshy areas.

Although landlocked,
UgandaUganda contains many large lakes. Besides Lakes
Victoria and Kyoga, there are Lake Albert ,
Lake EdwardLake Edward , and the
smaller Lake George .

This section DOES NOT CITE ANY SOURCES . Please help improve this
section by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material
may be challenged and removed . (March 2017) (Learn how and when to
remove this template message )

The parliament is formed by the National Assembly , which has 449
members. These include; 290 constituency representatives, 116 district
woman representatives, 10 representatives of the
UgandaUganda Peoples
Defence Forces, 5 representatives of the youth, 5 representatives of
workers, 5 representatives of persons with disabilities and 18
ex-official members.

The
World BankWorld Bank 's 2015 Worldwide Governance Indicators ranked Uganda
in the worst 12 percentile of all countries. According to the United
States Department of State 's 2012 Human Rights Report on Uganda, "The
World Bank's most recent Worldwide Governance Indicators reflected
corruption was a severe problem" and that "the country annually loses
768.9 billion shillings ($286 million) to corruption."

Ugandan parliamentarians in 2014 were earning 60 times what was being
earned by most state employees and they were seeking a major increase.
This was causing widespread criticism and protests, including the
smuggling of two piglets into the parliament in June 2014 to highlight
corruption amongst members of parliament. The protesters, who were
arrested, were using the word "MPigs" to highlight their grievance.

A specific scandal, which had significant international consequences
and highlighted the presence of corruption in high-level government
offices, was the embezzlement of $12.6 million of donor funds from the
Office of the Prime Minister in 2012. These funds were "earmarked as
crucial support for rebuilding northern Uganda, ravaged by a 20-year
war, and Karamoja, Uganda's poorest region." This scandal prompted the
EU, the UK, Germany, Denmark, Ireland, and Norway to suspend aid.

Widespread grand and petty corruption involving public officials and
political patronage systems have also seriously affected the
investment climate in Uganda. One of the high corruption risk areas is
the public procurement in which non-transparent under-the-table cash
payments are often demanded from procurement officers.

What may ultimately compound this problem is the availability of oil.
The Petroleum Bill, passed by parliament in 2012 and touted by the NRM
as bringing transparency to the oil sector, has failed to please
domestic and international political commentators and economists. For
instance, Angelo Izama, a Ugandan energy analyst at the US-based Open
Society Foundation said the new law was tantamount to "handing over an
ATM (cash) machine" to Museveni and his regime. According to Global
Witness in 2012, a non-governmental organization devoted to
international law,
UgandaUganda now has "oil reserves that have the
potential to double the government's revenue within six to ten years,
worth an estimated US $2.4 billion per year."

The Non-Governmental Organizations (Amendment) Act, passed in 2006,
has stifled the productivity of NGOs through erecting barriers to
entry, activity, funding and assembly within the sector. Burdensome
and corrupt registration procedures (i.e. requiring recommendations
from government officials; annual re-registration), unreasonable
regulation of operations (i.e. requiring government notification prior
to making contact with individuals in NGO's area of interest), and the
precondition that all foreign funds be passed through the Bank of
Uganda, among other things, are severely limiting the output of the
NGO sector. Furthermore, the sector's freedom of speech has been
continually infringed upon through the use of intimidation, and the
recent Public Order Management Bill (severely limiting freedom of
assembly) will only add to the government's stockpile of ammunition.

As of 2017,
UgandaUganda is divided into 121 districts . Rural areas of
districts are subdivided into sub-counties , parishes, and villages.
Municipal and town councils are designated in urban areas of
districts.

Political subdivisions in
UgandaUganda are officially served and united by
the
Uganda Local Governments Association (ULGA), a voluntary and
non-profit body which also serves as a forum for support and guidance
for Ugandan sub-national governments.

Parallel with the state administration, five traditional Bantu
kingdoms have remained, enjoying some degrees of mainly cultural
autonomy. The kingdoms are Toro ,
Busoga ,
Bunyoro ,
Buganda , and
Rwenzururu . Furthermore, some groups attempt to restore
Ankole as one
of the officially recognised traditional kingdoms, to no avail yet.
Several other kingdoms and chiefdoms are officially recognized by the
government, including the union of Alur chiefdoms, the Iteso paramount
chieftaincy, the paramount chieftaincy of Lango and the Padhola state.

There are many areas which continue to attract concern when it comes
to human rights in Uganda.

Conflict in the northern parts of the country continues to generate
reports of abuses by both the rebel Lord\'s Resistance Army (LRA), led
by
Joseph Kony , and the Ugandan Army . A UN official accused the LRA
in February 2009 of "appalling brutality" in the Democratic Republic
of Congo.

The number of internally displaced persons is estimated at 1.4
million. Torture continues to be a widespread practice amongst
security organisations. Attacks on political freedom in the country,
including the arrest and beating of opposition members of parliament,
have led to international criticism, culminating in May 2005 in a
decision by the British government to withhold part of its aid to the
country. The arrest of the main opposition leader
Kizza Besigye and
the siege of the High Court during a hearing of Besigye's case by
heavily armed security forces – before the February 2006 elections
– led to condemnation.

The US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants reported several
violations of refugee rights in 2007, including forcible deportations
by the Ugandan government and violence directed against refugees.

Torture and extrajudicial killings have been a pervasive problem in
UgandaUganda in recent years. For instance, according to a 2012 US State
Department report, "the African Center for Treatment and
Rehabilitation for Torture Victims registered 170 allegations of
torture against police, 214 against the UPDF, 1 against military
police, 23 against the
SpecialSpecial Investigations Unit, 361 against
unspecified security personnel, and 24 against prison officials"
between January and September 2012.

In September 2009 Museveni refused Kabaka Muwenda Mutebi, the Baganda
king, permission to visit some areas of
Buganda Kingdom, particularly
the Kayunga district. Riots occurred and over 40 people were killed
while others remain imprisoned to this date. Furthermore, 9 more
people were killed during the April 2011 "Walk to Work"
demonstrations. According to the Humans Rights Watch 2013 World Report
on Uganda, the government has failed to investigate the killings
associated with both of these events.

In 2007, a Ugandan newspaper, the Red Pepper , published a list of
allegedly gay men, many of whom suffered harassment as a result.

On 9 October 2010, the Ugandan newspaper Rolling Stone published a
front-page article titled "100 Pictures of Uganda's Top Homos Leak"
that listed the names, addresses, and photographs of 100 homosexuals
alongside a yellow banner that read "Hang Them". The paper also
alleged that homosexuals aimed to recruit Ugandan children. This
publication attracted international attention and criticism from human
rights organisations, such as
Amnesty InternationalAmnesty International , No Peace
Without Justice and the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans
and Intersex Association . According to gay rights activists, many
Ugandans have been attacked since the publication. On 27 January
2011, gay rights activist
David KatoDavid Kato was murdered.

In 2009, the Ugandan parliament considered an Anti-Homosexuality Bill
that would have broadened the criminalisation of homosexuality by
introducing the death penalty for people who have previous
convictions, or are HIV-positive, and engage in same-sex sexual acts.
The bill also included provisions for Ugandans who engage in same-sex
sexual relations outside of Uganda, asserting that they may be
extradited back to
UgandaUganda for punishment, and included penalties for
individuals, companies, media organisations, or non-governmental
organisations that support legal protection for homosexuality or
sodomy. The private member\'s bill was submitted by MP
David Bahati in
UgandaUganda on 14 October 2009, and was believed to have had widespread
support in the
UgandaUganda parliament. The hacktivist group Anonymous
hacked into Ugandan government websites in protest of the bill. The
debate of the bill was delayed in response to global condemnation but
was eventually passed on 20 December 2013 and signed by President
Yoweri Museveni on 24 February 2014. The death penalty was dropped in
the final legislation. The law was widely condemned by the
international community. Denmark, the Netherlands, and Sweden said
they would withhold aid. The
World BankWorld Bank on 28 February 2014 said it
would postpone a US$90 million loan, while the United States said it
was reviewing ties with Uganda. On 1 August 2014, the Constitutional
Court of
UgandaUganda ruled the bill invalid as it was not passed with the
required quorum . A 13 August 2014 news report said that the
Ugandan attorney general had dropped all plans to appeal, per a
directive from President Museveni who was concerned about foreign
reaction to the bill and who also said that any newly introduced bill
should not criminalize same-sex relationships between consenting
adults.

The country has been experiencing consistent economic growth. In
fiscal year 2015–16,
UgandaUganda recorded gross domestic product growth
of 4.6 percent in real terms and 11.6 percent in nominal terms. This
compares to 5.0 percent real growth in fiscal year 2014–15. :vii

The country has largely untapped reserves of both crude oil and
natural gas. While agriculture accounted for 56 percent of the
economy in 1986, with coffee as its main export, it has now been
surpassed by the services sector, which accounted for 52 percent of
GDP in 2007. In the 1950s, the British colonial regime encouraged
some 500,000 subsistence farmers to join co-operatives. Since 1986,
the government (with the support of foreign countries and
international agencies) has acted to rehabilitate an economy
devastated during the regime of
Idi AminIdi Amin and the subsequent civil war.
Suburban Kampala. Graphical depiction of Uganda's product
exports in 28 color-coded categories. Coffee fields in
southwestern
UgandaUganda

Economic growth has not always led to poverty reduction . Despite an
average annual growth of 2.5 percent between 2000 and 2003, poverty
levels increased by 3.8 percent during that time. This has
highlighted the importance of avoiding jobless growth and is part of
the rising awareness in development circles of the need for equitable
growth not just in Uganda, but across the developing world.

With the
UgandaUganda securities exchanges established in 1996, several
equities have been listed. The government has used the stock market as
an avenue for privatisation. All government treasury issues are listed
on the securities exchange. The Capital Markets Authority has licensed
18 brokers, asset managers, and investment advisors including: African
Alliance Investment Bank, Baroda Capital Markets
UgandaUganda Limited, Crane
Financial Services
UgandaUganda Limited, Crested Stocks and Securities
Limited, Dyer "> Street views in
KampalaKampala

UgandaUganda is one of the poorest nations in the world. In 2012, 37.8
percent of the population lived on less than $1.25 a day. Despite
making enormous progress in reducing the countrywide poverty incidence
from 56 percent of the population in 1992 to 24.5 percent in 2009,
poverty remains deep-rooted in the country's rural areas, which are
home to 84 percent of Ugandans.

People in rural areas of
UgandaUganda depend on farming as the main source
of income and 90 per cent of all rural women work in the agricultural
sector. In addition to agricultural work, rural women are responsible
for the caretaking of their families. The average Ugandan woman spends
9 hours a day on domestic tasks, such as preparing food and clothing,
fetching water and firewood, and caring for the elderly, the sick as
well as orphans. As such, women on average work longer hours than men,
between 12 and 18 hours per day, with a mean of 15 hours, as compared
to men, who work between 8 and 10 hours a day.

To supplement their income, rural women may engage in small-scale
entrepreneurial activities such as rearing and selling local breeds of
animals. Nonetheless, because of their heavy workload, they have
little time for these income-generating activities. The poor cannot
support their children at school and in most cases, girls drop out of
school to help out in domestic work or to get married. Other girls
engage in sex work. As a result, young women tend to have older and
more sexually experienced partners and this puts women at a
disproportionate risk of getting affected by HIV, accounting for about
57 per cent of all adults living with
HIVHIV in Uganda.

Maternal health in rural
UgandaUganda lags behind national policy targets
and the
Millennium Development GoalsMillennium Development Goals , with geographical
inaccessibility, lack of transport and financial burdens identified as
key demand-side constraints to accessing maternal health services; as
such, interventions like intermediate transport mechanisms have been
adopted as a means to improve women's access to maternal health care
services in rural regions of the country.

Gender inequality is the main hindrance to reducing women's poverty.
Women are subjected to an overall lower social status than men. For
many women, this reduces their power to act independently, participate
in community life, become educated and escape reliance upon abusive
men.

THIS SECTION NEEDS EXPANSION. You can help by adding to it .
(January 2013)

There are seven telecommunications companies serving over 21 million
subscribers in a population of over 34 million. More than 95 percent
of internet connections are made using mobile phones.

The total mobile and fixed telephony subscriptions increased from
over 20 million to over 21 million yielding an increment of over 1.1
million subscribers (5.4 increase) compared to the 4.1 percent
increases realized in the previous quarter Q4 2014
(October–December). The road between
Fort Portal and Rebisengo

THIS SECTION NEEDS EXPANSION. You can help by adding to it .
(January 2013)

In the 1980s, the majority of energy in
UgandaUganda came from charcoal and
wood. However, oil was found in the Lake Albert area, totaling an
estimated 95,000,000 m3 (3.354893339×109 cu ft) barrels of crude.
Heritage OilHeritage Oil discovered one of the largest crude oil finds in Uganda,
and continues operations there.

According to a 2006 published report, the Ugandan water supply and
sanitation sector had made substantial progress in urban areas since
the mid-1990s, with substantial increases in coverage as well as in
operational and commercial performance. :3–4 Sector reforms in the
period 1998–2003 included the commercialization and modernization of
the
National Water and Sewerage Corporation operating in cities and
larger towns, as well as decentralization and private sector
participation in small towns. :15

Although, these reforms have attracted significant international
attention, 38 percent of the population still had no access to an
improved water source in 2010. Concerning access to improved
sanitation , figures have varied widely. According to government
figures, it was 70 percent in rural areas and 81 percent in urban
areas in 2011, while according to UN figures it was only 34 percent.

The water and sanitation sector was recognized as a key area under
the 2004 Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP), Uganda's main
strategy paper to fight poverty. :182–188 According to a 2006
published report, a comprehensive expenditure framework had been
introduced to coordinate financial support by external donors, the
national government, and nongovernmental organizations . :5 The PEAP
estimated that from 2001 to 2015, about US $1.4 billion, or US $92
million per year, was needed to increase water supply coverage up to
95 percent, with rural areas needing US $956 million, urban areas and
large towns needing US $281 million, and small towns needing US $136
million. :182–183

UgandaUganda has been among the rare
HIVHIV success stories. Infection rates
of 30 per cent of the population in the 1980s fell to 6.4 percent by
the end of 2008. However, there has been a spike in recent years
compared to the mid-1990s. Meanwhile, the practice of abstinence was
found to have decreased.

The prevalence of female genital mutilation (FGM) is low: according
to a 2013 UNICEF report, Only 1 percent of women in
UgandaUganda have
undergone FGM, with the practice being illegal in the country.

Life expectancyLife expectancy at birth was estimated to be 53.45 years in 2012.
The infant mortality rate was approximately 61 deaths per 1,000
children in 2012. There were eight physicians per 100,000 persons in
the early 2000s. The 2006
UgandaUganda Demographic Health Survey (UDHS)
indicated that roughly 6,000 women die each year from
pregnancy-related complications. However, recent pilot studies by
Future Health Systems have shown that this rate could be significantly
reduced by implementing a voucher scheme for health services and
transport to clinics.

Uganda's elimination of user fees at state health facilities in 2001
has resulted in an 80 percent increase in visits, with over half of
this increase coming from the poorest 20 percent of the population.
This policy has been cited as a key factor in helping
UgandaUganda achieve
its
Millennium Development GoalsMillennium Development Goals and as an example of the importance
of equity in achieving those goals. Despite this policy, many users
are denied care if they do not provide their own medical equipment, as
happened in the highly publicised case of Jennifer Anguko. Poor
communication within hospitals, low satisfaction with health services
and distance to health service providers undermine the provision of
quality health care to people living in Uganda, and particularly for
those in poor and elderly-headed households. The provision of
subsidies for poor and rural populations, along with the extension of
public private partnerships, have been identified as important
provisions to enable vulnerable populations to access health services.

In July 2012, there was an
Ebola outbreak in the
Kibaale District of
the country. On 4 October 2012, the Ministry of Health officially
declared the end of the outbreak after at least 16 people had died.

The Health Ministry announced on 16 August 2013 that three people had
died in northern
UgandaUganda from a suspected outbreak of Congo Crimean
Hemorrhagic Fever .

CRIME AND LAW ENFORCEMENT

THIS SECTION NEEDS EXPANSION. You can help by adding to it .
(January 2013)

The National Science, Technology and Innovation Policy dates from
2009. Its overarching goal is to ‘strengthen national capability to
generate, transfer and apply scientific knowledge, skills and
technologies that ensure sustainable utilisation of natural resources
for the realisation of Uganda’s development objectives.’ The
policy precedes
UgandaUganda Vision 2040, which was launched in April 2013
to transform ‘Ugandan society from a peasant to a modern and
prosperous country within 30 years,’ in the words of the Cabinet.
UgandaUganda Vision 2040 vows to strengthen the private sector, improve
education and training, modernize infrastructure and the
underdeveloped services and agriculture sectors, foster
industrialization and promote good governance, among other goals.
Potential areas for economic development include oil and gas, tourism,
minerals and information and communication technologies (ICTs).

Research funding climbed between 2008 and 2010 from 0.33% to 0.48% of
GDP. Over the same period, the number of researchers doubled (in head
counts) from 1 387 to 2 823, according to the UNESCO Institute for
Statistics . This represents a leap from 44 to 83 researchers per
million inhabitants over the same period. One in four researchers is a
woman.
UgandaUganda has been able to manufacture prototype of cars called
kiira in which the government invested 70usd.

The country has a significant overpopulation problem. Uganda's
population grew from 9.5 million people in 1969 to 34.9 million in
2014. With respect to the last inter-censal period (September 2002),
the population increased by 10.6 million people in the past 12 years.
Uganda's median age of 15 years is the lowest in the world. Uganda
has the fifth highest total fertility rate in the world, at 5.97
children born per woman (2014 estimates).

There were about 80,000
Indians in Uganda before
Idi AminIdi Amin required
the expulsion of Ugandan-Asians (mostly of Indian origin) in 1972,
which reduced the population to as low as 7,000. Many Indians,
however, returned to
UgandaUganda after Amin's fall ouster in 1979. Around
90 percent of Ugandan Indians reside in Kampala.

Swahili , a widely used language throughout the African Great Lakes
region, was approved as the country's second official national
language in 2005. English was the only official language until the
constitution was amended in 2005. Although Swahili has not been
favoured by the Bantu-speaking populations of the south and south-west
of the country, it is an important lingua franca in the northern
regions. It is also widely used in the police and military forces,
which may be a historical result of the disproportionate recruitment
of northerners into the security forces during the colonial period.
The status of Swahili has thus alternated with the political group in
power. For example, Idi Amin, who came from the north-west, declared
Swahili to be the national language.

RELIGION

This article needs to be UPDATED. Please update this article to
reflect recent events or newly available information. (March 2017)

The remainder of the population according to the 2002 census followed
traditional religions (1.0 percent), Baha'i (0.1 percent), other
non-Christian religions (0.7 percent), or had no religious affiliation
(0.9 percent).

The Northern Region , including the West
NileNile sub-region , is
predominantly
CatholicCatholic , while the
Iganga District in eastern Uganda
has the highest percentage of Muslims. The rest of the country has a
mix of religious affiliations.

Owing to the large number of communities, culture within
UgandaUganda is
diverse. Many Asians (mostly from India) who were expelled during the
regime of
Idi AminIdi Amin have returned to Uganda.

SPORT

Basketball

The country has an increasingly successful national basketball team .
It is nicknamed "The Silverbacks", and made its debut at the 2015
FIBA
AfricaAfrica Championship .

Baseball

In July 2011, Kampala,
UgandaUganda qualified for the 2011 Little League
World Series in
Williamsport, Pennsylvania for the first time, beating
Saudi Arabian baseball team Dharan LL, although visa complications
prevented them from attending the series. Little League teams from
UgandaUganda qualified for and attended the 2012 Little League World Series
.

The Ugandan film industry is relatively young. It is developing
quickly, but still faces an assortment of challenges. There has been
support for the industry as seen in the proliferation of film
festivals such as Amakula,
Pearl International Film Festival , Maisha
African Film Festival and Manya Human Rights Festival. However
filmmakers struggle against the competing markets from other countries
on the continent such as those in
NigeriaNigeria and South
AfricaAfrica in addition
to the big budget films from Hollywood.

The first publicly recognised film that was produced solely by
Ugandans was Feelings Struggle, which was directed and written by
Hajji
Ashraf Ssemwogerere in 2005. This marks the year of ascent of
film in Uganda, a time where many enthusiasts were proud to classify
themselves as cinematographers in varied capacities.

The local film industry is polarised between two types of filmmakers.
The first are filmmakers who use the
Nollywood video film era 's
guerrilla approach to film making, churning out a picture in around
two weeks and screening it in makeshift video halls. The second is the
filmmaker who has the film aesthetic, but with limited funds has to
depend on the competitive scramble for donor cash.

Though cinema in
UgandaUganda is evolving it still faces major challenges.
Along with technical problems such as refining acting and editing
skills, there are issues regarding funding and lack of government
support and investment. There are no schools in the country dedicated
to film, banks do not extend credit to film ventures, and distribution
and marketing of movies remains poor.

The
UgandaUganda Communications Commission (UCC) is preparing regulations
starting in 2014 that require Ugandan television to broadcast 70
percent Ugandan content and of this, 40 percent to be independent
productions. With the emphasis on Ugandan Film and the UCC regulations
favouring Ugandan productions for mainstream television, Ugandan film
may become more prominent and successful in the near future.